Ski Day 33: Back to Winter, Back to Powder

Vert: 10,370 m YTD Cum Vert: 328,964 m
Runs: 19 YTD Cum Runs: 594

This was a bit of an atypical spring day -- more like winter for most of it. There was boot top fluffy powder to start the day (it wasn't a day to arrive late -- more on this later) covering up most everything, and AM tracks were very nice in mild temps and sunny skies. There was still ice and hard pack underneath the fluff, but there was enough coverage to make most turns very nice. It clouded up and snowed a bit by noon, then got clear and sunny around 2. Prior to 2, there was no noticeable change in conditions due to the minimal daytime heating, but when the sun hit at 2, the snow on the really exposed faces (like Hill 205, Viking Ridge and Angel Flight) started to get heavy. That only lasted 30 min or so, and within 10 min of the sun going away, we were back to winter again.

Coverage continues to deteriorate, especially on Goat's Eye; everything skiers left of Silver Scapegoat (including Free Fall, Gladerunner, Afterburner) is now closed. There's lots of trees and grass on Rolling Thunder, and some on Silver Scapegoat. The South Side chutes are now closed with lots of trees showing through on Wildside and obvious avi damage on Farside (I give Goat's Eye another week before it closes unless a big dump arrives).

Divide is faring much better, with the only obvious place at risk being the South Pockets. Bye Bye Bowl remains fabulous.

Today wasn't the best from a strategy perspective, however. For starters, we thought it would need to warm up in order to get good, so arrived in the parking lot at 9:45 instead of 8:45. This was a mistake, as we could have had a solid hour of fresh powder tracks, and any warming which would have occurred would have made the snow crappy.

And second, I left my camera in the car, so never got shots of the lovely powder.